Junior Sarah Dalton scored four goals and senior co-captain Lauren Morton totaled five points as the No. 15 Boston University women's lacrosse team earned a 10-7 victory over No. 14 Yale Wednesday afternoon at Nickerson field. The Terriers opened the game by scoring five of the first six goals put up on the board.

Five Boston University (4-2) players scored on the afternoon, including Dalton, Morton with three goals, and senior co-captain Molly Collins and sophomores McKinley Curro and Erica Baumgartner with a goal each.

In a defensive battle, both teams' backfields held off the opposition for long periods of time, forcing the attackers away from the net and closing down shooting lanes.

After the Terriers ran a three-goal streak to build a 9-4 advantage with 7:47 remaining in the game, Yale responded with a three-goal run of their own to tighten the game to a 9-7 affair. However, Baumgartner netted the ball with 11 seconds remaining in the game to give BU the final score of the game.

Boston University (4-2) led the Bulldogs to commit 17 turnovers while limiting themselves to 13. The Terriers also recovered 16 ground balls to Yale's 13, but controlled only eight draws while the Bulldogs had 11.

Sophomore Rachel Klein made six saves in goal on a rainy and cold afternoon, lowering her season goals against average to 10.50.

The win marks the second time the Terriers have beaten a higher ranked team this season, after BU gained a 17-7 win over No. 10 Vanderbilt on March 12.

The Terriers will open their conference slate with games against America East rivals Binghamton Friday at 4:00 p.m. and Albany Saturday at 3:00 p.m., with both games being played at the opponents' venues.

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No. 15 BU jumped out to a 5-1 lead in the first half, then held off No. 14 Yale the rest of the way for a 10-7 win Wednesday afternoon at a rainy Nickerson Field. The Bulldogs got within two goals of the Terriers at two points in the second half, but also committed nine of their 17 turnovers in the second to negate any chance of a comeback.

Yale (4-3) has trailed at one point in every game this season, and this marked the third time an opponent has opened up a lead of three or more goals on the Bulldogs in the first half. The Terriers started quickly in this one, as midfielder Molly Collins scored 44 seconds in.

The Bulldogs were hurt early on by failing to cash in on their first four free position attempts. That included a sequence where senior midfielder Kat Peetz had a goal waved off because she had been fouled; on Peetz' free position attempt she passed to sophomore attacker Jessica Sturgill, who was also fouled. Terrier goalie Rachel Klein then stopped Sturgill's free-position shot, and three minutes later midfielder Sarah Dalton scored to give BU a 2-0 lead.

After another pair of free position attempts for the Bulldogs came up empty, Sturgill took matters into her own hands by taking the ball low into the 8-meter fan, spinning right and then going back to her left to cut the BU lead to 2-1.

But BU (4-2) then ran off three straight goals, including one by Dalton and two by midfielder Lauren Morton. Yale finally regrouped when Peetz used her speed to draw another foul for a free position shot that she converted with 5:24 left in the half.

The Terriers' attempt to hold on for the last shot of the half was broken up by sophomore defenseman Michele Fiorentino, who drew a charge that got Yale the ball. That paid dividends when Taylor and senior attacker Meredith Callahan worked together for a goal with 21 seconds left in the half. Taylor backed down the defense in front of the cage, drawing the Terriers' attention before feeding the ball to Callahan. Callahan then got the ball right back to Taylor, who fired her first shot of the game past Klein to make it 5-3 BU heading into halftime.

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2008-03-19